What are you reading this weekend?

Brainsmith wrote:

So, next up on my list is Ender's Game and I'm really not looking forward to this. I watched the film one or two years ago and found it rather boring. I always keep telling myself that I shouldn't judge a book by its movie version, but my expectations are very low.

Your expectations will be well exceeded. The movie really doesn't do the book justice.

I am also in the middle of Ready Player One and I'm enjoying it immensely, as I am definitely the target demo for all of the references.

I am also almost done with Mary Roach's excellent science/medical research book Bonk about sex research. After that, back to The Bonehunters, the sixth Malazan Empire book, which is getting really good. If I ever DM a fantasy RPG, it will be heavily inspired by Malazan.

Reading the first of The Expanse books. So far it is just like the show.

Brainsmith wrote:

So, next up on my list is Ender's Game and I'm really not looking forward to this. I watched the film one or two years ago and found it rather boring. I always keep telling myself that I shouldn't judge a book by its movie version, but my expectations are very low.

I really don't want to build it up too much, then. But this was one of the books that saved me in eighth grade.

bekkilyn wrote:

I might be able to help with some information! The author of the book has a course called Learning to Learn on Coursera. There's a class currently in session and it's free unless you want to get the certification . Even though I don't keep up with assignments, I tend to join the class whenever it's in session because there's a lot of interesting discussion about the book and other related topics. She also sends out a weekly email with some interesting stuff in it.

Though the book uses math as an example, the main point of the book is more on learning how to learn, so can be used for other subjects as well.

Ha! I'm actually in that course as well... still. I started it about a year ago, got halfway through, and have been in the rolling enrollment since then.

A lot of the book content parallels what I remember from the course, so it's a good review.

The fact that the book is focused more on learning to learn in general rather than specifically learning how to learn math is actually a bit disappointing to me. The general stuff I feel like I've got a pretty good grasp of, and I was hoping for a deeper analysis of the specific challenges with learning math.

UMOarsman wrote:
Brainsmith wrote:

So, next up on my list is Ender's Game and I'm really not looking forward to this. I watched the film one or two years ago and found it rather boring. I always keep telling myself that I shouldn't judge a book by its movie version, but my expectations are very low.

Your expectations will be well exceeded. The movie really doesn't do the book justice.

It was indeed better than the movie. I couldn't remember the Locke Demosthenes stuff, so I figure that that's not in the film. Neither could I remember the plot twist and the rather dark touches. All in all, the novel was ok. It is not great, but it is okay.

Next up: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I have already bought Blade Runner, which I haven't watched in forever. I'm looking forward to that.

I'm finishing up the Paradox trilogy, about 20% done with the third book: Heaven's Gate.

The romance elements are more and more of a distraction, but the main plot is good enough that I'm pretty locked in.

I should finish The Twelve Lives off Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti today. I really liked her first book The Good Thief so had to pick this one up.

Brainsmith wrote:

Next up: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I have already bought Blade Runner, which I haven't watched in forever. I'm looking forward to that.

That's a great example of the movie and book having nothing in common beyond the basic concept.

Of course, that's the case for most Philip K. Dick novels that were made into movies.

Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson has arrived, so... yeah. That'll be my whole weekend.

I have A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers on my list for this weekend.

Maybe Malazan is grimdark. I guess I had put a lot of emotional things into a lockbox, in my memory.

Robear wrote:

Maybe Malazan is grimdark. I guess I had put a lot of emotional things into a lockbox, in my memory.

Quick everyone! Now's the time to start trying to convince Robear that rainbows are grimdark too!

Hee hee hee

Hey, I've played Diablo III!

Life, and Persona 5, have gotten in the way of a lot of reading lately. However, a long weekend vacation traveling to the west coast means I can finally return to Memories of Ice. 150 pages in, this seems to be ramping up on the epicness of gods and their motivations. There also seem to be a lot of revelations, something the previous Malazan books waited until the last 200 pages to do.

I just finished Rise of Io by Wesley Chu last night and will start The Collapsing Empire today. I have never read Scalzi so hoping for the best.

After The Sun Also Rises and Tropic of Cancer, I continue this year's theme of expats living in Europe in the early 20th century with Christopher Isherwood's Mr. Norris Changes Trains. It's pretty good so far.

Finally started reading the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins after a long time of wanting to and never getting to it. It's a fictionalized account of the Rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ that takes place in our times. I'll probably finish the first book sometime today and will continue with something else already in progress tomorrow as I'm still on my library's waiting list for the second book.

"Fictionalized", as in, having little to do with the Bible itself...

Robear wrote:

"Fictionalized", as in, having little to do with the Bible itself...

Well "fictionalized" in the sense that the prophetic events in the book haven't actually happened as interpreted by these writers in their storyline. Whether or not some or many of them do in the future remains to be seen.

Just finished Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows (The Cthulhu Casebooks). It's exactly what you would expect from the first book in a trilogy featuring a Sherlock Holmes/Cthulhu crossover.

I thought the author did a good job capturing the feel of Sherlock Holmes, and (presumably) a good job capturing the Cthulhu aspects, though I'm less familiar with those stories. It hits all the expected notes -- dread horrors, opium dens, the restricted section of the British Library, an ophidian meance, Scotland Yard, and a setup for the next two books in the trilogy.

Bekkilyn wrote:

Well "fictionalized" in the sense that the prophetic events in the book haven't actually happened as interpreted by these writers in their storyline. Whether or not some or many of them do in the future remains to be seen.

But it won't because they were "prophesied" in the Bible. It'll because they match the fevered imaginations of the authors...

Robear wrote:
Bekkilyn wrote:

Well "fictionalized" in the sense that the prophetic events in the book haven't actually happened as interpreted by these writers in their storyline. Whether or not some or many of them do in the future remains to be seen.

But it won't because they were "prophesied" in the Bible. It'll because they match the fevered imaginations of the authors...

I wouldn't give them all the credit for the "imaginations" since a lot of it came from them researching various points of view and interpretations that have already been in existence for years. Much of it is already familiar to me, so it's interesting to me to see how they put it all together into a novel, or series of novels.

That's not to say that there aren't certain political groups in existence currently doing what they can to try to hurry things along, apparently being unsatisfied with God's timeline concerning the latter days. I'm not certain they'll manage to get a whole new nation out of such impatience though like Abram did with Ishmael.

Well, good luck with the books.

Starting Star Wars: Thrawn this weekend.

Amazon recommended that I pick up some John Scalzi. I thought I would ask the community if it was worth considering.

I recall enjoying reading Old Man's War back when. I never read the rest of the books in that universe because the rollout of titles reminded me of Ender's endless swarm of sidequels. That association is probably unjustified.

Yesterday I read the preview of Collapsing Empire and it was interesting enough to warrant jumping on the whole thing.

I've read all the Old Man's War books and enjoyed them. They do get a bit same-y as the series goes on, but still, a nice fluff read. I would encourage you to at least read the next one (Ghost Brigades) and, if you're still hooked, the third (Last Colony). After that, you'll know if you want to keep going - the last three are the weakest IMO.

I enjoy reading John Scalzi's books in small doses. Read the sample and see if you like his "voice" because it's basically the same throughout every novel of his I've read, regardless of which character is narrating.

bnpederson wrote:

I enjoy reading John Scalzi's books in small doses. Read the sample and see if you like his "voice" because it's basically the same throughout every novel of his I've read, regardless of which character is narrating.

QFT